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FAQ

VisTracks can provide initial “train the trainer” support. Re-sellers are expected to provide Level 1 technical support to their customers. This would encompass how the software and hardware interact with the DOT HOS application and how that add drivers and fleet managers to the server. VisTracks has User Guides and Videos to help reinforce any concept that we have covered initially. Initial training can be scheduled with Stacia.Tyler@vistracks.com

Level II Support – more complex issues that may include software bugs that VisTracks needs to correct should be referred to Michael.Frediani@vistracks.com

VisTracks has a complete process defined for re-sellers to successfully submit their application based on our testing of the software and hardware combination. New hardware, not currently supported, can be submitted for FMCSA testing. This is a fee based service and takes 6 to 8 weeks and requires support from the hardware vendor. VisTracks can brand the app with your logo and color scheme for a fee. This is required to submit to FMCSA under your own name. Fees are defined in the reseller agreement.

VisTrakes does no trade shows of our own. However, if your company has a booth at a major trade show and would like our support to help answer questions and do product demos, we are willing to help support your efforts on a case by case basis. Personnel from Sales, Marketing, Technical Support and even executive ranks have provided such support in the past for our re-sellers.

In that case, which is common, the truck is idling but no mileage is being accrued. The Driver status is Sleeper and he is off duty. The driver must remain off duty for 10 continuous hours in order to log on for the next day’s work.

Yes, the driver is responsible for his hours and his eligibility to work for your company may be compromised. If he has the VisTracks app on his phone or personal tablet this is easy to do. The weekend work may fall under the 100 air mile exemption or he may not be crossing state lines but he still cannot exceed duty hours in a single cycle. If the driver is to remain ELD compliant, he will have to hook up to an engine bus monitor that is compatible with the VisTracks app in any other vehicle he may be driving.

Per FMCSA regulation, the tablet must be plugged into ship’s power when it is being used for ELD and remain on at all times. If it is turned off, all automatic transition data is lost, the system is disconnected and the driver must switch to paper logs.

If you have a connected tablet doing nothing but updating driver logs back to the server every 5 minutes, we think the data consumption per month would be around 500 Mb. FMCSA does not require this data to be uploaded in real time, however. The driver could synchronize his tablet on Wi Fi at the terminal in the morning and at the truck stop at night to log off the app.

The engine bus monitor supports these features but they are not required for ELD. If you are using a CalAmp or Geometris device with Fleet Tracking software, all of that data can be captured and displayed including DTCs (diagnostic trouble codes).

While there are various intrastate rules and Canadian rules that vary from north to south, the basic US Federal requirements are that you can operate 8 days for 70 hours or 7 days for 60 hours. The driver may drive 11 hours per day and on duty for a total of 14 hours per day. A driver must take a 30-minute rest break after 8 continuous hours of driving. A driver must be off duty for 10 continuous hours between working shifts, but these shifts can start at any time of day. To restart the 70 hour or 60-hour clock, the driver must be off duty for 34 continuous hours. The VisTracks app supports all these variations and warns drivers when they must change their duty status. The app will not allow drivers to log on if they do not have eligible hours.

The VisTracks app supports all of the Canadian Federal rules and Canadian drivers must be ELD compliant when they cross the border to the US. An ELD mandate will be coming shortly in Canada as well. There are very specific HOS rules in Canada already. South of 60 Degrees Latitude Canadian drivers have two choices and can switch between them. Cycle 1 allows 70 hours On Duty in 7 days and requires 24 consecutive hours off. Maximum Drive time per day is 13 hours and Maximum On Duty Time is 14 hours. This must be followed by 8 consecutive hours of Off Duty Time. Total Off Duty Time each day must be 10 Hours but the non-consecutive off duty time must come in at least 30 minute periods. A Cycle reset can occur with 36 consecutive hours off duty.

Cycle 2 allows 120 Hours On Duty time in 14 Days. The driver is limited to 70 hours On Duty without a period of 24 consecutive hours off duty. The Cycle 2 reset time is 72 consecutive hours Off Duty. A driver can switch to Cycle 2 after 36 consecutive hours off duty. To Switch from Cycle 2 to Cycle 1 requires 72 consecutive hours Off Duty. Driving north of Latitude 60 Degrees N allows 15 hours of Driving time and 18 Hours of On Duty time followed by 8 consecutive hours of Off Duty time.

For those Canadian drivers not following the Federal rules specific driving rules for each of the major provinces is planned and in the works.

On the home screen, there will be an automatic transition to On Duty Not Driving after 6 minutes not moving even if the vehicle is idling per FMCSA regulation. The driver can them manually transition to Sleeper or Off Duty from the home screen. The location this manual transition is made is recorded with a direction and distance to the nearest town of population 5,000 or more.

It depends on the severity of the event. If the application simply did not get a required parameter for a status event, then a Data Diagnostic event will display with a ‘D’ in the notification bar of the application. The driver may continue to use the ELD solution with only a Data Diagnostic event. If the event is more serious, or the diagnostics are repeatedly occurring, a Data Malfunction will be recorded. Malfunctions need to be checked out immediately by the drivers. Some Malfunctions can be cleared by the driver depending on whether they can correct the problem, and some will require the driver to switch to paper logs until the ELD can be brought back into compliance.

Yes, your CalAmp script for reporting to your fleet tracking application should be merged with our ELD certified script. Then both functions will be active and you can update settings via your PULS account with CalAmp as you always do.

It is the driver’s right to decline to drive a vehicle he deems unsafe. The federal mandate includes an “anti-discrimination clause” that says that the carrier cannot force a driver to use an unsafe vehicle or drive more than the Federal allowance of hours of service.

Most of the ELD Engine Bus monitors we have certified are less than $200. You should be aware of the cost of tablets and phones. Your re-seller agreement specifies the monthly cost per driver to you but you may set any retail price.

Per FMCSA regulation, the GPS signal is truncated so that it can’t give a precise address location to protect the driver’s privacy. The notation will be a distance and a compass direction (like NNE) to the nearest city with a population of 5000 or more.

Several thousand have been deployed by large re-sellers, but for the most part, customers are running trials of 2 to 5 units to test devices now. By December 18, 2017, however, all drivers must be ELD compliant. If a customer buys an AOBRD compliant device from one of our competitors during this transition period, they have an additional 24 months to use that device and amortize its cost. Most of the largest names in Fleet Tracking do not yet have a device certified on the FMCSA website we have noted. You can check your listing (and ours) at https://3pdp.fmcsa.dot.gov/ELD/ELDList.aspx. If they buy a new truck or rent a truck after December 18, 2017, that truck must be ELD compliant. There is one other exception, heavy trucks before MY 2000 are exempt from the legislation because they did not have the required electronics installed by the manufacturers.

Per FMCSA the 5 MPH threshold is not adjustable. The driver may select Yard Moves, if allowed by the fleet manager, and the Off Duty time is recorded on the grid chart with a dotted Amber line. Events such as Personal Use, Yard Moves and Off Road are also recorded in the driver’s history list. However, only the Personal Use and Yard Moves are displayed on the grid chart as an Amber color line to be visually different to the other event status. A dashed line represents the Personal Use event and a dotted line represents the Yard Moves event.

The ELD mandate is per driver so that is how the software is billed. IFTA fuel tax is per truck. In a basic fleet tracking application, companies billed only on installed hardware. You can bill your customers any way you like as long as you pay us per driver.

Yes. After you have completed Level 1 support for your customer you can refer Level 2 support to VisTracks. We will contact the hardware manufacturer if there is an anomaly with a particular make and model of truck – which we have seen. That is why re-sellers would be wise to have engine bus monitors that can have their firmware updated over the air as new models are introduced and firmware for some non-standard trucks is deployed.

Personal Conveyance and Yard Moves are supported by the app but must be allowed by the Fleet manager. Yard Moves and Personal Conveyance time is allowable on a per account/per driver basis. When a driver chooses Yard Moves, the time in that event is calculated as Off Duty time. When they are finished and ready to go back on the road, they can simply end Yard Moves.

You may wish to consider paying the fee to VisTracks to create a custom application with your logo that you can deploy under your name to the Google Play Store and have listed on the FMCSA website. Fees for customizing the app and the collateral are listed in your re-seller agreement. Along with your PO, you will need to supply certain artwork files. Stacia.Tyler@vistracks.com can provide detailed instructions.

On the home screen the driver may switch to On Duty ND after the lock screen is gone or there will be an automatic transition to On Duty Not Driving after 6 minute not moving even if the vehicle is idling by FMCSA regulation. The driver can them manually transition to Sleeper or Off Duty from the home screen. The location this manual transition is made is recorded with a direction and distance to the nearest town of population 5,000 or more.

Yes, for certain events. The ELD solution can give audible alerts for the connection and disconnection of a device, for upcoming violation possibilites, and other such events. The mandate states that the ELD solution has to be able to be muted completely during Sleeper events. The application has a setting to mute all sounds to handle this and other scenarios. This allows a driver to mute all ELD sounds but keep the ringing of a phone call for example.

VisTracks is the leading provider of white-labelled, reseller-based FMCSA-certified ELD software and managed services for electronic logging of driver hours of service, vehicle inspections, electronic work orders, and IFTA.